Horse Slaughter

Enroute to the Slaughterhouse – photo by Gail A. Eisnitz The Lives of Wild & Domestic Equines Are Hanging in the Balance as Congress is Scheduled to Vote Friday, March 23rd! Horse [...]

We, at Equine Advocates, strongly believe that horse slaughter promotes the inhumane treatment of horses, horse theft and other illegal activities and the violation of cruelty laws. The 2014 and 2016 Omnibus Spending Bills contained the provision that prevents horse slaughterhouses from opening in the U.S. by defunding horse meat inspectors. But with the new administration that could all be about to change.

We need to finally ban the slaughter of America’s wild and domestic equines once and for all within the U.S. and close our borders to transportation of equines from the U.S. to Canada and Mexico and any other country for the purpose of slaughter.

It is still a critical time both in the U.S. and globally, where we have seen countries that do not eat horses find horse meat in school meals, hospital meals, and supermarkets—all marketed as beef. And in 2015, as many predicted, horse meat was found in the U.S. food supply.

Horse Slaughter—An American Disgrace

Horse slaughter is the way by which irresponsible people get rid of their unwanted horses quickly and for a profit. Every year, well over 170,000 equines from the United States are slaughtered for human consumption to satisfy the taste for horse meat in Europe and Japan where it is considered a delicacy. Due to an ongoing movement by small, but powerful special interest groups that have successfully blocked passage of Federal legislation banning horse slaughter for nearly a decade, our equines continue to be transported across the Canadian and Mexican borders where they are brutally slaughtered and their meat is then exported overseas selling for between $15 and $25 per pound.

Despite the European Union banning the import of horse meat from Mexico in December 2014, we have not seen evidence that the flow of horses from the U.S. to Mexico has drastically reduced. We believe this is because the Belgian and Dutch multinationals who control most of the horse meat distribution have adjusted by importing horse meat from other, unrestricted countries, while continuing to sell horse meat from Mexico to Russia, Vietnam and other third-world countries.

“I believe there is one catch phrase which is contributing greatly to the confusion surrounding horse slaughter. That phrase is ‘unwanted horses.’ They wanted them when they bought them, didn’t they? Horses are the responsibility of their owners who owe them kindly treatment through life and a peaceful death administered by caring hands. Period! Enabling a callous and irresponsible person to walk away from a problem, pocket a few hundred dollars and feel good about it, is a disservice to our industry and the animal they profess to care about. In this they are helped by the enablers who refer to ‘processing’ rather than slaughter and ‘plants’ rather than slaughterhouses.”

John Hettinger

John Hettinger was a successful horseman and industry leader, anti-horse slaughter activist, and the co-founder of Blue Horse Charities. Mr. Hettinger passed away in 2008.

The Will of the American People Versus Special Interests

Since 1999, special interests have been successful in blocking Federal legislation to ban horse slaughter. Those pro-slaughter groups include: the American Farm Bureau and its subsidiaries, the National Cattlemen’s Association and its subsidiaries, the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the New York State Horse Council and many other subsidiaries of the American Horse Council. (The AHC claims to be ‘neutral’ on the horse slaughter issue, but many of its subsidiaries are very publicly and actively pro-slaughter.)

“The whole underbelly that horse slaughter breeds disturbs me. It’s just a scavenging type of industry. Slaughter has become the garbage can for the performance horse industry. If we don’t figure that out sometime soon, the public will condemn us. Our culture dictates that horses should not be slaughtered—I felt what was happening to these horses was appalling—the horses I care for every day.”

Patricia Hogan, VMD, ACVS

Dr. Hogan is the world renowned equine surgeon and veterinarian who treated Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex and numerous other champions. She testified before a Congressional sub-committee in 2006 in favor of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act.

History: An Industry That Operated in Secret

Slaughtering horses in the United States for human consumption started in the early 1970’s. Americans do not eat horse meat – we consider horses to be favored animals, just like dogs and cats. The idea of eating horse meat goes against our very culture. It was foreign interests that first built equine slaughterhouses in the United States and by the 1990’s, there were at least sixteen of them operating all across the country. At that time, most Americans were not aware that this industry even existed. It was a secretive business that operated through “killer buyers” (middlemen for the slaughterhouses) and other “insiders,” including horse dealers and a group of “meat men” who paid cash for Thoroughbreds who became injured or were just not fast enough to compete any more. Over the years, the industry grew largely as a result of indiscriminate and over-breeding by some people who began to use slaughter as a convenient way to get rid of their unwanted horses quickly, rather than take responsibility for them by either taking the time to place them or by paying a licensed veterinarian to put them down humanely. Over 140,000 Quarter Horses are born every year, often “puppy mill style” with the ones that are “not just right” in terms of color and/or conformation being scrapped conveniently for slaughter.

Slaughter is a horrifying end for horses. The ordeal begins at the slaughter auctions where the chaotic environment causes excessive stress for the animals, some of whom are already injured. Young and healthy horses are sent to slaughter regularly; it is pure propaganda by the opposition that only sick and aged equines go to slaughter. Nothing could be further from the truth. At these sales, horses are transported under extremely cruel and inhumane conditions, sometimes traveling thousands of miles in overcrowded carriers with little to no food, water or rest. Some arrive at the slaughterhouses severely injured from being kicked or trampled by other frantic horses. Some cannot walk after the trip and have to be dragged to their deaths. Others arrive dead. Once at the slaughterhouse, traumatized and terrified horses are forced into the death chute leading them to the “knock box” where they are supposed to be rendered unconscious. However, the methods used to slaughter the horses are indescribably horrific—many horses are still conscious as their throats are being slit.

California banned horse slaughter and a national movement was born

“Our forefathers honored the Horse as a ‘favored’ animal like dogs and cats when this country was founded. Dog, cat and horse slaughter are not part of our culture or heritage. We should no more be slaughtering our horses for export than we should slaughter our dogs or cats for export to countries where their meat is eaten.”Cathleen Doyle

Ms. Doyle headed the successful Save the Horses campaign which resulted in the historic passage of Proposition 6 in 1998 which banned horse slaughter in California.

As the practice of horse slaughter was exposed to the public, protests began and the slaughterhouses started shutting down. In 1998, Californians made history by passing Proposition 6, the first successful state initiative to ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption. California, the state with the largest equine population, as well as the nation’s biggest agri-business state, said “No” to horse slaughter. The Save the Horses campaign, executed brilliantly by Cathleen Doyle and the California Equine Council, changed history—and a national movement began.

People who starve their horses and get money for them by selling them for slaughter are essentially being rewarded for breaking the law.

By 2006, there were only three horse slaughterhouses remaining in the U.S. all foreign-owned and operated. That year, H.R. 503, the House version of The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act passed easily, but was blocked in the Senate by Larry Craig (R-ID) and other lawmakers representing pro-horse-slaughter special interests.

The two Texas facilities shut down after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 1949 Texas law prohibiting the sale of horse meat. In 2007, the State of Illinois enacted a ban on horse slaughter, shutting the slaughterhouse there, the last one operating in the U.S.

Failure to pass slaughter ban worsened conditions for horses

Today, the slaughter continues with horses being transported to Canada and Mexico for an even more brutal death. You can view the stabbings of horses at Mexican slaughterhouses on YouTube under “Horse Slaughter in Mexico.”

One of the largest feedlots for horses in the country is located in Shelby, Montana where tens of thousands of horses await their fates before being shipped over the Canadian border for slaughter. The situation will continue to worsen until we finally get a permanent ban on horse slaughter and the transportation of horses across our borders for the purpose of slaughter.

The number of horses being slaughtered for meat had decreased every year until 2000, when the numbers began to climb again. They really escalated after 2004 when the late U.S. Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) surreptitiously attached an amendment to a 3,000-page spending bill which privatized America’s Wild Horse and Burro herds. There were no hearings or even a warning that this was being done. As a result, Wild Horses and Burros can now be sold for commercial purposes, including slaughter.